First of all a bit of a mention of the first night here, after my initial blog went around to watch the sunset at a nearby place, Sunset Cave Hotel, where our friends were staying. They certainly got a very good deal, paying a third less than us but it's a proper hotel with a good room and unbeatable view. The guy running the place, Hassan, is a lovely guy, even gave us a warm greeting as we attempted to sneak in. He came up not long after for a chat, and later on brought up a large (I mean LARGE) pottery jar of home-made wine. Gee the stuff was good, drank a bit in quite a short time though. Went out for dinner at a place in the LP, wasn't bad but wasn't great.

Yesterday got moving early enough, went and hired a small (150 cc) moped so we could explore ourselves for a day, with Sean and Alana. Gee that was fun! Didn't have a firm agenda, headed south-east and saw a place called 'Pigeon Valley'. After this we rode around for a couple hours, often on dual carriageway highways with cars whizzing past as we struggled to get much above

Saw quite a few cool places that we probably wouldn't have seen if we'd have just gone on a tour, was lots of fun.sixty clicks.

Pulling into a town called Avanos north of Göreme we were flagged down by some old guy with a moped similar to ours.. he said something about being 'very happy' and by his gesticulations that he wanted to play some music for us and we could take pictures.. so we followed him a short distance to his two storey house (I had just noticed these houses in the middle of nowhere, looked quite middle-class with green greeen grass), and we went inside. In there were a few women, one obviously the Grandma, one his wife and another couple younger ones and a very young girl, a toddler. Oldest woman was flicking her beads so we felt comfortable enough.

We were sat down on the couches, in walked the family again as the dude got out his cool looking instrument. Granny took a liking to me for some reason, stroked my face and was muttering approving words. Who knows what she was on about?! The music only lasted a minute or two before we were up again, and it became apparent we were going to be shipped off to a bloody ceramics factory, the guy was hoping to get a kickback no doubt. We were given some really nice red grapes on the way out and after a few goodbyes and photos for the family, we were off. Oh I then decided to try and do a donut with the bike on the gravel and kinda fell over, fortunately neither Cassie or myself hurt!

On the way to the ceramic place our man picked up another couple of strays, this time in a car. He and the car rode off into the distance and we were just going to turn around and bail when we saw the place; and we were ushered inside. The couple in the car, including a pretty hot tanned bird, were Turkish but could understand English so the ceramic dude spoke in our language..

It was all interesting enough, located in an underground facility that had been dug out of the rock. Of course, we were under no obligation to buy, and were not even given a cup of tea. Naturally we did buy something, a small bowl that was quite nice and had a lot of work put into it, that's if it was created using the techniques we saw before our very eyes.

We had lunch in Avanos, everyone's a comedian in this town, waiters trying to be funny but not quite getting there. Rode for another couple hours, visited some nice random spots before swinging past the Göreme Open Air Museum, and making the decision to ride up the hill which was a bit of a mistake, so steep, so windy and so cobblestone, even the cars were struggling and nearly took us out on the way up. Also had to come back down the same way, not fun.

Met a funny cafe manager / owner dude, seemed nice enough. He completely changed his accent though once he found out we live in Melbourne, as he also does but comes back roughly 6 months of the year. Has some bird down under, but reckons he won't go back again as he doesn't want to move there permanently. We didn't actually get one but he makes the best coffees I've seen in Turkey so far, and says he works as a barrista in Chapel Street a Buddha Belly or something like that.

Had a very quick swim in the budget pool at hostel before heading out for a haircut. My first choice berber was not really open but found one at the third attempt. All went ok until the finishing.. just kind of weird. I had heard from Sean about his shaving experience which was unusual but had good results, so I was determined to be as stoic as I could. This was tested however when he pulled out a bit of wire with cotton wool on the end. Do NOT stick that in my ear I thought! Hang on, then he smeared a bit of alcohol looking stuff on it; then fumbled in the drawer, pulled out a lighter and set it on fire. He then proceeded to dab it (for a split second) onto my ears and just below where my sideburns used to be. The smell was terrible; but it didn't hurt and I thought on ya mate, been meaning to deal with that hair for a while now!! He got out his razor and finished it off. 15 big ones; he invited me back for tea the next morning, think he wants to learn some more English off me (I taught him 'smell').

Next event was a bit of a downer, set off to return the bike and the bloody thing fell off its stand at the hostel, one of the mirrors snapped off and I got stung for a 25 TL 'fine'. So it cost 75 TL in total, the price of a daily tour for one person so we're still ahead, I think.

Nice dinner, with Sean & Alana again, got to try a testi kebap which is a kebab cooked within a pot that you have to smash open to eat. Quite cool, don't think I'll get it again but liked the experience. No beers or wine tonight, will save the room for tomorrow!